-il CesareSole Absolute Triple
Exalted High Tastemaster Supreme
“In the entire world there are only a few sounds that bring joy to all but the most jaded. One is the murmur of a kitten purring. Another is the thwack of a well-pitched baseball hitting a perfectly swung bat. And the third is the pop of a cork being pulled from a bottle of wine.” —George Taber

klezman

Had this at the WCC Hallowoot party. Notes from a few hours post-opening, no decant say that it's a fairly restrained nose, but with some blackberry and woodiness. The flavours were nice, integrated, and surprisingly complete for a PS this young. Bright acidity, nicely tannic, and overall my favourite of all the H-D wines I've yet tried.

I also was fortunate enough to sneak away with the remains of the bottle for sampling on day 2. At that point I thought there was significantly more blackberry and smoky notes emerged. I also found it to be more astringent on day 2, so I suppose it will get more interesting with a bit more age and it's got plenty of life. One for drinking now or later, as you wish.

hillig

Firstly, this is fantastic wine - I recommended it last time it was on sale and absolutely would again.

I'm a bit confused why the price has risen. 2 for $52 seven months ago, now 3 for $90? Again, I think the wine is a good purchase at this price. I was surprised to see it here again given the limited case production.

klezman

hillig wrote:I'm a bit confused why the price has risen. 2 for $52 seven months ago, now 3 for $90?

Harder to get good wine deals due to wine prices stabilizing, and I think the Amazon mothership is eating a bit more into the WW/WCC kitty so the deals can't be quite as awesome as they used to be. Sad, but c'est la vie.

MarkDaSpark

We had this Saturday at the SoCal Gathering, and I think everyone agreed it was the best wine opened (although the Corison was very nice).

More when I find my tasting notebook.

Edit: See Klez's notes above. I just wish he'd stop copying my notes!

x20

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

trifecta

I was not able to make it to the WCC event, but I did get to try this wine at the D&D BBQ in August. I really enjoyed the wine and it stood out among many other great PETs. I will be adding this to my cellar.

MarkDaSpark

cortot20 wrote:The $13-$20 range is still my sweet spot.
So I say nope on this. Even if it is excellent.

You better get some of your own ... cause this is one I'm not sharing with you.

x20

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

MarkDaSpark

klezman wrote:Had this at the WCC Hallowoot party. Notes from a few hours post-opening, no decant say that it's a fairly restrained nose, but with some blackberry and woodiness. The flavours were nice, integrated, and surprisingly complete for a PS this young. Bright acidity, nicely tannic, and overall my favourite of all the H-D wines I've yet tried.

I also was fortunate enough to sneak away with the remains of the bottle for sampling on day 2. At that point I thought there was significantly more blackberry and smoky notes emerged. I also found it to be more astringent on day 2, so I suppose it will get more interesting with a bit more age and it's got plenty of life. One for drinking now or later, as you wish.

Dang it! If you're going to read my notes and post them ....

But basically what Klez said for the Saturday group. Very nice on opening for such a young wine. Normally you should wait 4 to 5 years after vintage before opening a PS (infanticide per PetiteSirah), but this one was very nice on opening. Not too tannic.

x20

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

MarkDaSpark

klezman wrote:Looks like Sparky got his before posting his tasting notes! See where his priorities lie?

Personally, I'd be up for taking a single bottle off somebody's hands. Too much $ and too little space to get a whole set for me.

I was surprised I was First Sucker! Even with changing the shipping address to the Irvine Wine Locker. I think PetiteSirah was worn out from berating the SF Giants yesterday.

But yes, if it's PS, I'm in before all else!!!!

x20

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

tal888

Hey wooters! Long time reader/ long time woot cellars buyer/ first time poster.

I went to the Hallowoot event last week and it was fabulous! Great people, and no one seemed to judge my novice palate, or my tipsy fiance. ;-)

For this Petite Sirah, I remember it being quite nice and flavorful, but a little too intense for me for an instabuy (I am more of a Pinot type of guy). I remember the body tasting of a combination of the bitter part of dark chocolate, the fruity/aftertaste of a raspberry, and maybe red currents.

MarkDaSpark

tal888 wrote:Hey wooters! Long time reader/ long time woot cellars buyer/ first time poster.

I went to the Hallowoot event last week and it was fabulous! Great people, and no one seemed to judge my novice palate, or my tipsy fiance. ;-)

For this Petite Sirah, I remember it being quite nice and flavorful, but a little too intense for me for an instabuy (I am more of a Pinot type of guy). I remember the body tasting of a combination of the bitter part of dark chocolate, the fruity/aftertaste of a raspberry, and maybe red currents.

Did you try it at the very end? PS has a well-known lengthy decant time needed. So if you tried it towards the beginning of the HalloWoot, you also needed to try it after an hour or more.

It really mellows out the more it decants.

x20

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

chipgreen

klezman wrote:Harder to get good wine deals due to wine prices stabilizing, and I think the Amazon mothership is eating a bit more into the WW/WCC kitty so the deals can't be quite as awesome as they used to be. Sad, but c'est la vie.

Plus the all-you-can-ship option is affecting WCCs bottom line. Make your wine.woot purchases first then get your free shipping on the other woot sites!

MarkDaSpark

ThunderThighs wrote:Heh. I hope to make it to a tasting at some point. Will probably try to go to Austin in January.

And I look for any excuse to use one of my favorite smilies.

True.

Course there's this one (which is the main reason they don't have me as a Moderator!)

x20

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

Bendial80

cortot20

I know Peter Wellington makes wine for Denier-Handal, so I assume he made this as well. H mentioned in a forum post making a PS that I have yet to see for sale. Is this it? or did he make one for his winery label?

SonomaBouliste

cortot20 wrote:I know Peter Wellington makes wine for Denier-Handal, so I assume he made this as well. H mentioned in a forum post making a PS that I have yet to see for sale. Is this it? or did he make one for his winery label?

Yes, we made this 2009 PS for Senor Handal, as well as 2010, 2011 and 2012. We did bottle a PS (2010 vintage) under our own label for the first time this year. I don't think we have enough for a w00t offering, but you can buy it direct from us.

rhandal

hillig wrote:Firstly, this is fantastic wine - I recommended it last time it was on sale and absolutely would again.

I'm a bit confused why the price has risen. 2 for $52 seven months ago, now 3 for $90? Again, I think the wine is a good purchase at this price. I was surprised to see it here again given the limited case production.

bobrush12866

SonomaBouliste wrote:Yes, we made this 2009 PS for Senor Handal, as well as 2010, 2011 and 2012. We did bottle a PS (2010 vintage) under our own label for the first time this year. I don't think we have enough for a w00t offering, but you can buy it direct from us.

Peter: I don't see the PS on your always up-to-date website!

Denier-Handal Petite Sirah (3)
Speed to First Woot: 8m 46.009s
First Sucker: MarkDaSpark
Last Wooter to Woot: bobrush12866
Last Purchase: a minute ago

rhandal

rlmanzo wrote:Can one of the fortunate few out in CA who has tasted this wine compare it to the Esoterica Petite Sirah?

That wine was superb.

I LOVE petite sirah but $30+ does give one lots of options...

Someone convince me....

It's difficult to convince anyone in a blog. We who drink this wine regularly at home know its a very well crafed wine. Peter and his people did a wonderful job with our grapes. It's now tasting extremely well and fits all the descriptions the other Wooters have made above. The holidays are approaching and we know this wine will enhance any and all celebrations. Salut!

neilfindswine

rhandal wrote:It's difficult to convince anyone in a blog. We who drink this wine regularly at home know its a very well crafed wine. Peter and his people did a wonderful job with our grapes. It's now tasting extremely well and fits all the descriptions the other Wooters have made above. The holidays are approaching and we know this wine will enhance any and all celebrations. Salut!

...and there's not much of the '09 left!

and BTW we were searching the office for the unfinished bottle for hours... glad to hear that Klezman found a home for it...

MarkDaSpark

rlmanzo wrote:Can one of the fortunate few out in CA who has tasted this wine compare it to the Esoterica Petite Sirah?

That wine was superb.

I LOVE petite sirah but $30+ does give one lots of options...

Someone convince me....

It's been a while since I've had Kent's PS (even if I have a ton), so it's hard to compare with this one. All I can say is we all really liked this on Saturday, and it was the favorite.

If you love PS, you can't pass this up. Plus, if Peter is one of your favorite winemakers, you doubly can't pass!

x20

Someone has to put WD's kids thru college, but why does it have to be me! *This post is for purposes of enabling only, and does not constitute any promise of helping pay for said enabling. It does indicate willingness to assist in drinking said wine.

Woot.com is operated by Woot Services LLC.
Products on Woot.com are sold by Woot, Inc., other than items on Wine.Woot which are sold by the seller specified on the product detail page.
Product narratives are for entertainment purposes and frequently employ
literary point of view;
the narratives do not express Woot's editorial opinion.
Aside from literary abuse, your use of this site also subjects you to Woot's
terms of use
and
privacy policy.
Woot may designate a user comment as a Quality Post, but that doesn't mean we agree with or guarantee anything said or linked to in that post.